No salt please, we’re healthy

HEALTH-conscious diners are shunning the salt cellar.

The number of people adding salt to food at the table fell by more than a quarter in the five years following the launch in 2003 of a campaign to lower consumption, researchers have found.

They looked at the salt intake from 1997 to 2007 of more than 6,000 adults in England. Their study, published in the British Journal of Nutrition, found that since the launch of the campaign, the proportion of people reporting that they add salt dropped from 32.5 per cent to 23.2 per cent.

Salt use at the table accounts for 15 to 20 per cent of people’s total salt intake. Dr Alan Dangour, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, co-author of the study, warned:

Eating too much salt can lead to raised blood pressure, which increases the risk of heart disease and stroke

Dr Alan Dangour

“Salt intake levels in the UK remain well above the recommended amount.

“Eating too much salt can lead to raised blood pressure, which increases the risk of heart disease and stroke.”